Who has changed my story?

[pervinmt]

I was just reading my first chapter of my story, My Son Is A Slut, and there have been changes from what I submitted, some words and phrases, as well as things being added. I'm not happy with someone altering my writing, no matter how innocent the intentions!!! My words are MY words, and no one should have the right to alter them! If you would like, I can send you a copy of the story, AS I SUBMITTED IT, and point out the changes. Yes, I'm pissed off!

[pervinmt]

I've also found changes in the second chapter.

[drscorpio]

Moderator's Note: There is a person on the moderator staff (not me or rawTOP) whose job it is to clean up the stories posted here. Mostly he just fixes spelling, grammar, lack of paragraphs breaks, and so on - in other words, all the things that need editing to make a story easy to read.  Occasionally, more substantial edits get made. It has always been this way; the vast majority of fiction stories on this site have been cleaned up in this manner. This policy is not likely to change. 

[flacogedor]

56 minutes ago, drscorpio said:

Moderator's Note: There is a person on the moderator staff (not me or rawTOP) whose job it is to clean up the stories posted here. Mostly he just fixes spelling, grammar, lack of paragraphs breaks, and so on - in other words, all the things that need editing to make a story easy to read.  Occasionally, more substantial edits get made. It has always been this way; the vast majority of fiction stories on this site have been cleaned up in this manner. This policy is not likely to change. 

That sounds fucking nuts to me. If users aren't good writers or if their stories suck, then they won't be read or get comments and that's it, their posts die there. But messing with their own creations and editing their texts for whatever reason is not right, simply not cool. And pretty arbitrary and abusive, too. In a site that promotes freedom and consent. Wtf.

[chi4loads]

8 hours ago, pervinmt said:

I was just reading my first chapter of my story, My Son Is A Slut, and there have been changes from what I submitted, some words and phrases, as well as things being added. I'm not happy with someone altering my writing, no matter how innocent the intentions!!! My words are MY words, and no one should have the right to alter them! If you would like, I can send you a copy of the story, AS I SUBMITTED IT, and point out the changes. Yes, I'm pissed off!

It's happened to me too.

 

1 hour ago, drscorpio said:

Moderator's Note: There is a person on the moderator staff (not me or rawTOP) whose job it is to clean up the stories posted here. Mostly he just fixes spelling, grammar, lack of paragraphs breaks, and so on - in other words, all the things that need editing to make a story easy to read.  Occasionally, more substantial edits get made. It has always been this way; the vast majority of fiction stories on this site have been cleaned up in this manner. This policy is not likely to change. 

Cleaned up?  Butchered is a better description.   I have one more chapter I am going to post and that is it. I'm done posting fiction on this site. I might understand line breaks and paragraphs, but wording changes.   BTW, I've found plenty of grammar errors in the stuff I have written and NONE of that was corrected.  And on other stories I've found typos, endless paragraphs, etc.  Sentences were changed in a few paragraphs of my long running tome with inappropriate wording.  That is unacceptable.    It did seem to stop after I pointed it out, but I see it's still going on with other writers.

[pervinmt]

Just understand, I take no issue with fixing spelling or extremely awkward punctuation. What I take issue with is changing thoughts or words that need no changing.

For example, I wrote, "Matthew still lives at home, which I like, and saves expenses. He was never much of a partier, good kid, and has all the freedom he wants."

It got changed to, "Matthew still lives at home, which I like, if only as it saves money. Matthew was never much of a party kid, instead he was a genuinely pleasant kid, which meant we gave him all the freedom he wants."

This is not at all how my character would speak. He never would have said "genuinely pleasant," or, "if only as it saves money." I like to write as people actually talk. I'm not writing a flippin Jane Austen novel. This is what I find offensive, changing the characters I'm creating. 

[raw773]

43 minutes ago, chi4loads said:

BTW, I've found plenty of grammar errors in the stuff I have written and NONE of that was corrected. 

😶

[Guest hodannyboi]

I'm just shocked that all these years I've really been worshipping Sarah Palin!!

[Guest socalwannabe]

Be careful. "Moderators" have been known to warn, block, or ban any user who speaks ill of them. They don't like it when people call them out!

[Guest ScottSwallows]

I see nothing wrong with editors fixing spelling,grammar or punctuation.

I get tired of reading stories that sound like a caveman wrote them.”Me suck cock.Me like cum.”

You’ll get better comments if it’s written properly.

[pupHawaii]

Sorry - editing someone's posts is for any reason without their permission is wrong.  There are times I intentionally spell things wrong - I drop the letter "g" a lot (fuckin vs fucking, etc.) - or I don't capitalize words.   The purpose of fiction is to let the writer tell his story his way, develop his characters, any fuckin' way he wants!   Admittedly I'm not a writer, I've not posted stories here and aren't likely to do so.  But if I did, and someone changed it for any reason, especially to make it grammatically correct or to change it from how I speak, or how my characters speak to something more formal - I'd be pissed.  Fiction is what comes out of the writer's mind - not what comes out of someone else's mind.  If someone doesn't like the style of a writer - don't fucking read it!  This isn't the first writer here who has complained about their story being changed.  I've seen other writers post about the exact same thing, they were totally pissed off and at least one of them I know of has substantially stopped writing because of it - and no one owned up to what was going on.   So drscorpio thank you for stepping up and letting pervinmt know something was happening and he's not going crazy.

rawTOP - I would ask that you reconsider the editing your moderators do on here.  I'm sure there are other more important things they could do rather than change people's fiction.  Let people write like they talk - no harm, no foul.   

[Guest socalwannabe]

There are universally accepted editorial ethics that even this site’s “moderators” should follow which include responsibility  to authors: https://www.copyediting.com/8-tips-for-maintaining-editorial-ethics/#.XOgPTtNKjUI

[ErosWired]

1 hour ago, socalwannabe said:

There are universally accepted editorial ethics that even this site’s “moderators” should follow which include responsibility  to authors: https://www.copyediting.com/8-tips-for-maintaining-editorial-ethics/#.XOgPTtNKjUI

Actually, this article is a response to the absence of universally accepted ethical  standards for copyeditors, although it does suggest a number of common-sense principles. 

I am a published writer, and have been a copy editor in several settings. I have shared a couple of stories here, though I never looked to see if they had been edited. Even if they have been edited by staff, I would not be terribly outraged. I would be far more torn up if someone claimed my writing as his own than from someone tinkering with my text.

Were the writers here under contract to write, or being in some way compensated, their right to see their work published without edits would be more compromised. That is not, however, the case.

Still, that does not mean that RawTOP must publish all submissions to his own site regardless of style, content or quality.  It is his site, and he may maintain such standard as he chooses, just as any other publisher does. Some sites go so far as to state in their terms of service that any material posted becomes the property of the site, in whole and in part, for any use the site chooses. In such places, user content can be manipulated in any way without any consultation with the user, nor any recourse. I do not believe that this site attempts to exercise that level of control.

In my view, there should be a stickied post, conspicuously marked, advising any prospective poster of original fiction to these boards that all such entries are subject to editing by staff, and explain the purposes and circumstances of such editing. That way, a writer may make an informed choice whether or not to contribute to the fiction in the forum.

This is a privately run website. Publication of our individual stories is not a right, but a service extended to us by the site owner, to allow us to share stories of a type that might not find acceptance elsewhere. If we choose to take advantage of this service, we must expect to abide by any terms of this service (and there’s no free lunch, guys). As long as those terms are clear, our freedom of choice is not compromised - we may share, or not share, our individual stories as we choose.

If the site owner values that content, and his policies prove so onerous that no more content is posted, then the terms may change, but it will still be our free choice whether or not to make use of the service.

[drscorpio]

5 hours ago, socalwannabe said:

Be careful. "Moderators" have been known to warn, block, or ban any user who speaks ill of them. They don't like it when people call them out!

Making a new “sock puppet” account to get around an account ban will get you banned almost anywhere. 

[chi4loads]

14 hours ago, pervinmt said:

Just understand, I take no issue with fixing spelling or extremely awkward punctuation. What I take issue with is changing thoughts or words that need no changing.

...

Agreed.   Some of the changes I've found in my story:

Part 5:

… Mark said and they all laughed.

BECAME

…Mark commented.  Gales of laughter ensued. 

Gales of laughter?

Part 8:

“Thanks, I’m glad I went” Steven replied.

BECAME

“Thanks.  I'm honestly glad you extended the invitation, and no less glad I accepted it," Steven replied.  

Who the hell talks like this?

Part 9:

Mark drove back to the hotel and packed his suitcase and backpack.  The three of them got in the car and Mark dropped Joe and Kyle off at their apartment.   

BECAME

Mark smiled and he, Joe and Kyle left the shop, returning to the hotel where Kyle quickly packed his suitcase and backpack, checked-out, and drove Joe and Kyle to their apartment.

This one might be the worst.  It takes two simple sentences and turns it into one run-on sentence and has the wrong character packing and checking out of the holel.   Formatting changes I have NO problem with.  Looking back on my first chapters, they really needed it and I learned how to make it more readable.  It was my first attempt, after all.